I just started Crossing California and so far I'm really enjoying it.

You need to tell me things like this guys. Maybe I will find out for myself if I ever get to Madtown, but I judge people on their book shelves probably moreso than their CD/rekkid collection. (which is why Redlands is so impressive, it's all of MY books )



What did you think of the Thompson stuff? I gained a whole new perspective on his wit and erudition once I started working in the mechanics of politics. Some of his stuff is extremely prescient (see the column in Swine where he talks about barbed wire fenced keeping suicide bombers out of the Capitol, or in his letters book where he predicts a Reagan presidency)

I love Songs of the Doomed, if only because I want to see all those busted manuscripts released now that he's dead.

I am still soldiering through a bunch of shit, but am dissapointed in my reading habits of late. I need to plow through that Klosterman book right quick, if only to prime the pump for getting throug the 5 half read books on my shelf.

Also, started listening to From Dawn to Decadence on tape this weekend. It is interesting, and I look forward to hearing the rest.

I've really been enjoying his collected works and it's probably in more here than anywhere that I've turned into a bona fide fan of his work (although that was brewing during the Great Shark Hunt). I would agree that some of his points and hypotheses on politics are startlingly on the mark in terms where things developed. I think it was in Songs of the Doomed where he discusses how future administrations will have plans for making up some reason to go in the middle East and snag some oil etc. As you mentioned, the terrorist stuff too is spot on, particularly when discussing Libya and the Beirut attack.

I also really enjoyed Prince Jellyfish and The Rum Diary. If there's more of that stuff, I hope it gets out now. I'm nearly finished Better than Sex and have pre-ordered Hey Rube. I still have to start Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail which I started reading about 15 years ago and never finished (I guess I couldn't really appreciate him back then). After I'm finished those, I'm probably going to take up Kingdom of Fear and then Fear and Loathing in America. Basically, everything else. You kind of get addicted to his energy.

Just finished "Killing Yourself To Live" = meh...
Before that it was a slow first read through "Haunted" by Chuck P., which was great, and a re-read of "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs", which was still good...
About to start on the new Nick Hornby, whatever that's called...

Yeah, I decided to get all "current" and "modern" on my reading list for now, I guess....

Yep, I have alse read these by him...

Killing Mr. Watson...on deck
Far Tortuga
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Men's Lives

all of which are fantastic

The Watson trilogy is phenomenal. And, for me, Far Tortuga practically created an entirely new form of novel. Nice to see there are others who appreciate this man's genius.

You speak truth. Like a long free verse poem.

England's Dreaming by Jon Savage

on deck-- complete shite summer reading:

Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch : Tales From a Bad Neighborhood by Hollis Gillespie

We're Just Like You, Only Prettier : Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle by Celia Rivenbark

anything f. scott fitzgerald. anything lost generation. anything about henry miller.

I've gotta pick this up for my Dad.

Can't keep up with the herd. Reading Ellis' Less Than Zero and American Psycho. Got around to Franken's Lying Liars ... and Malcolm X with Alex Haley. Like the records you say you'll always get around to, I'm (finally!) picking up the reads I meant to years ago.

Anyone recommend me books of good short fiction? I really like Borges, Wells.

Yeah, I've been meaning to read this, but it must be real popular because it's always checked out from my library.

Steve

I just read the new Sedaris, Fight Club by Palahniuk (I read Lullaby and Choke last month) and Harrington on Hold Em 2: The Endgame

The thing to keep in mind with Better than Sex is that it is almost 98% made up, and that actually ADDS to the genius. Some of the shit he throws out there is so outlandish and beautiful, it is mind boggling.

My fave part of Songs of the Doomed is when he talks about Campaign Trail and says of the Muskie/Ibogaine controversy. "Sure there was a rumor. I STARTED THE RUMOR but there was a rumor.

Good shit... I pick up one of his books every year or so, and the go plowing back through the rest. Its like a disease.

Yeah, Thompson is probably my biggest singular influence, for good or ill.

DJ, you gotta read Campaign Trail; its my favorite HST book, but is a long bastard of a book to get through. Good summer book.

And goddamn, can we get The Silk Road released already?

Agreed, it so far gone, it's just brilliant. I can't wait to tear into Campaign Trail '72. I'm glad I've bought all of these because it will definitely worth rereading again and again. For the first two nights I was in Dublin all I had were these books and many pubs for company. It was a good pairing.

I saw the preview for this at the theater the other night, before seeing We Are Not Alone: Aliens Also Hate Tom Cruise, and it looked pretty good. I think they may be going for a younger-skewed Lord of the Rings-type production.

Read Freakanomics, The Tipping Point, about to start Blink, i guess, but that Klosterman should come on cd any day now...

So far this summer, I've read...

Freakonomics
Paradise by A.L. Kennedy (really good novel about an alcoholic woman with a plot that's kind of difficult to explain)
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

and I'm currently reading a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver called Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, which is excellent--very sparse writing and expertly crafted stories.

Next up is Wake Up, Sir by Jonathan Ames

I am starting the Dark Tower Series...

just finished Stephanie Doyon's The Greatest Man In Cedar Hole and started William Geddis' Agapē Agape

I've been too busy these days to have the time read anything that takes too long or too many brain cells-a kid, a job and a husband and well, who the hell has the time?!

So for me it's been re-visting books that are kind of fun that don't take too long:

The Witching Hour Series by Anne Rice-this includes all three books in the series

HP-The Goblet of Fire
HP-The Order of the Pheonix

and as of today, HP-The Half Blood Prince(well half way through already that is).

I'm about 1/4 way through myself. So far, so good actually.

I somehow ended up with a free copy of the memoirs of Dave Van Ronk called The Mayor of McDougal Street. I'm not huge into this kind of stuff, but its not too bad.[/u]